Well, this morning I got up on the wrong side of the bed. It just happens. My teenager was late to school, my car: below empty in the gas tank, and a few other things on my desk when I got to work that  went down like spoiled milk~!! I said to one of my team mates here, “I am re- starting my day” so I decided to get a little inspiration from our good friend Oprah.

She had interviewed some really inspirational authors concerning turning your mood around and I boiled this down for all of us to get it done in 5 easy steps!

1.  Get Verticle    Christine Padesky, PhD, co-author of Mind Over Mood. says, ” just standing up and not laying in bed is a great start. So  and make a cup of coffee, take a shower, feed the cat… move a muscle change your mood!”

2. Drink
Padesky says people do not realize when they need water. Make that two glasses of water upon awakening, the time when our bodies are dehydrated, dehydration causes fatigue, which affects your mood. A very easy step to a brighter you!”

3.  Move It
You probably  already know the number one way of chasing away a bad mood: exercise.  I notice after skipping the gym that I have a blue mood. I wonder where all my energy has gone. Well, Padesky says, ” a workout at the gym sure helps. But even just a few minutes of movement—a fast walk, for example—raises energy and reduces tension, so just a brisk walk or even just playing with the dog for a while can elevate your mood”

4. Investigate
When you’re dogged by anxiety or the dread you woke up with, Padesky asks us to ” try to pinpoint what’s causing it. Did someone say anything the day before? Do you have a meeting today you wish you didn’t? Was it the dream you were having when the alarm went off?  If you can figure out why you’re upset, that’s halfway to feeling better,” I guess it is true you have to have an awareness before you can work on something.

5. Laugh at Yourself
The best comedians point out the mundane aspects of life—relationship strife, a boring job, a closet full of too-tight clothes; they exaggerate those circumstances, and give us a perspective we can laugh about, says Mark Ridley, owner of the Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, Michigan. Look at your own life and try to appreciate the absurdity of what doesn’t go exactly according to plan (the diets, the men, the buzz cut). Acknowledging how little control we actually have over what happens is sometimes a most freeing gift to yourself.    My team mate Mike is so funny that sometimes I drop by his office and get a chuckle and feel so much better!

Just going over these steps has lifted me. Hope you can re start your day!